Reeve on Fever coach: 'We don't answer to her'

INDIANAPOLIS - Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said on Friday she likes Indiana -- she coached at Indiana State once. But her relationship with the coach of the state's WNBA team is strained at best.

"I don't give a hoot what Lin Dunn thinks about me or my players," Reeve said before the Lynx's morning shootaround before Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. "We don't answer to her."

On Thursday, Dunn had criticized Reeve for being disrespectful to the game of basketball and to officials because of her sideline tantrum in Game 2. After Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen and Reeve both received technical fouls in the third quarter, Reeve threw her jacket and tried to charge onto the court but was stopped by an assistant.

Dunn said Reeve deserved another technical, which would have meant an ejection. Instead, the officials ignored it, although the league did fine Reeve an unspecified amount Thursday. Dunn also was unhappy with Reeve telling her players at halftime of Game 2 to use their elbows under the basket."It might be the pot calling the kettle black," Reeve said. "That's what it seems like to me, because it is known throughout the league how Indiana likes to play. And we simply decided, after [a loss in] Game 1, that if this series is going to be physical, we have to join the party.

"I could care less what Lin thinks. We won't be going for a beer here in Indy. That is probably not going to happen. We will see if time heals wounds -- whether I get a Christmas card or not."

Reeve probably will get one. Dunn on Friday was in a conciliatory mood. She said she has enormous respect for Reeve, the two are good friends and Reeve has done a super job.

Dunn said that if she had worn a jacket on Wednesday, she might have thrown hers, too. What upset her most in Game 2 was the officials not giving Reeve a second technical for her actions.

Instead, Reeve's meltdown seemed to fire up her team and the crowd at Target Center. The Lynx outscored the Fever 12-7 the rest of that quarter to take a five-point lead and pulled away early in the fourth.